


Gifts of All Kinds

by randomwriter57



Category: Tales of Zestiria
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Christmas, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, delivering gifts to all of their friends, how does one title, i just wanted an excuse to write a christmas oneshot with their asteria christmas outfits, just because writing this in canon would have felt weird lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-24
Updated: 2017-12-24
Packaged: 2019-02-19 13:38:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13124856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/randomwriter57/pseuds/randomwriter57
Summary: Twas the night before Christmas,And all through the town,A goblin cart rode,Letting presents rain down.ORSorey and Mikleo deliver presents to their friends on Christmas Eve, whilst hoping their Christmas wishes will come true.





	Gifts of All Kinds

**Author's Note:**

> Happy holidays everyone!  
> So I recently found the [Asteria Christmas outfits for Sorey and Mikleo](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/df/0b/a1/df0ba14a0b7c3bf5c13fa30f709af465.png) and I couldn't resist writing a oneshot where the two of them wear those outfits. It kind of spiralled into this. I hope you all enjoy it!  
> Wishing you all the best for the end of 2017 and all of 2018!

Mikleo wishes he hadn’t agreed to this.

To be fair, Sorey’s ideas aren’t usually this regrettable. With Sorey’s ideas, there’s generally a clear indication of when Mikleo needs to put his foot down.

For whatever reason, he hadn’t thought this plan required such a thing. Perhaps because he hadn’t understood what it fully entailed, at the time.

Now, as he stands in Sorey’s room, dressed in red and white, he knows he was wrong.

“Do I really have to wear this?” he asks, picking at the soft fabric of his red jacket, which is lined with a white faux fur.

“Of course you do! It won’t be as good if you don’t,” calls Sorey from inside the bathroom, where he is currently changing into his own outfit.

Mikleo has to admit, the quality of the outfit isn’t bad: the fabric is soft and warm, and the styling isn’t the worst that he’s seen. The long jacket looks nice when paired with the knee-length beige boots and white trousers he’s been given. No, it’s the accessories which put him off, especially in addition to the purpose for which these outfits will be used.

He flicks the reindeer antlers on his head, and the bells attached to the holly jingle merrily.

“Going to people’s houses at this time of night was a bad enough idea,” Mikleo says, “but wearing this is going to make it even more ridiculous.”

The door to the en-suite bathroom clicks open, and Sorey’s reply is clearer, this time. “You don’t look ridiculous. It actually really suits you!”

Turning to the source of the sound, Mikleo pauses at the sight of his friend. If Mikleo supposedly suits his own outfit, he has nothing on Sorey, who owns the outfit as if it was styled specifically for him. His red jacket is slightly different from Mikleo’s, with a far larger hood and white puffball buttons, paired with red trousers and black boots. Atop his head sits a red santa hat, which is a far more sophisticated piece of headwear than that which Mikleo wears, in Mikleo’s opinion.

He actually looks like he’s meant to be a sort of modern Santa Claus, whereas Mikleo just looks silly.

Sorey frowns and moves over to Mikleo, scrutinising his outfit. “You forgot the bell.”

“But that’s the worst part-”

Before Mikleo can protest any more, Sorey picks up the large yellow bell from where Mikleo left it on Sorey’s bed, slipping the green bow over his head. It’s a bit of fuss, considering he doesn’t remove the antlers before he attempts this, but he eventually succeeds. It falls on Mikleo’s collarbone, between the lapels of his jacket. Mikleo glares at Sorey, then transfers this glare towards the bell, as though it is the one who has wronged him.

“Don’t look like that,” Sorey says with a laugh. “It looks great! Perfect, even.”

“Says the one who actually has a decent outfit!”

“You’re meant to be a reindeer! You can’t be a reindeer without a jingle bell.” He taps the bell for added effect, though its sound is muted against Mikleo’s chest.

“I already have bells on the antlers,” Mikleo says. As if for added effect, the bells chime along with the movement of his head when he looks back up at Sorey. “The whole town is going to hear me coming a mile away.”

Sorey cocks his head to the side with an expression entirely too innocent for the one who purchased these outfits in the first place. “Isn’t that the point, though? That’s why Santa has bells on his sleigh- Oh, that reminds me!”

Before Mikleo can ask what he’s planning now, Sorey grabs his hand and pulls him out of his room, heading through the flat into the living room. The feeling of Sorey’s gloved hand against Mikleo’s bare one might have been comforting, if he wasn’t already dreading finding out the next part of the plan.

When they reach the living room, Sorey drops Mikleo’s hand and heads to the opposite side of the small room, where something stands, covered by a thick red cloth. He grabs the cloth and pulls it away with a flourish, grinning when the thing underneath is revealed.

Mikleo face-palms.

“The goblin cart? Really?”

A wooden cart stands against the wall, decorated with tinsel and a cardboard reindeer head, with fake snow glued onto the top and edges. He isn’t sure whether it actually looks better now than it did when it was a simple replica cart from Sorey’s favourite film, or if the decorations simply look garish. On the back of the cart sits a sack filled with colourfully-wrapped presents. Mikleo recognises quite a few of them, having wrapped many of them himself.

Putting his hands on his hips, Sorey puffs out his chest in pride. “It looks great, right? It makes the perfect sleigh!”

“If you think I’m pulling you along on the goblin cart, I refuse.”

“What? No, you’ll be on the cart with me! I can drive it, don’t worry.” Sorey grins, standing on the cart and wheeling it out of its corner and into the centre of the room. Sleigh bells jingle on the front of the cart. “Shall we?”

Rolling his eyes, Mikleo ignores the hand Sorey offers to him, crossing his arms over his chest. “How are you going to get it through the door if no one opens it for you?”

For a moment, he pauses before scratching the back of his head sheepishly. “Oh, right. Thanks, Mikleo.”

The two manage to manoeuvre the cart through the flat and the hall outside, taking the lift downstairs instead of trying to carry it downstairs; neither of them can forget what happened last time they tried to do that. Waving cheerfully to the perplexed receptionist, Sorey wheels the cart through the front door, which Mikleo closes behind them, shaking his head all the while.

Outside, it is far colder than it had been only hours ago, though that’s to be expected considering the time. Luckily there isn’t any snow yet, and it hasn’t been raining recently, so they won’t have to worry about ice, either. The streets are only covered by a thin veil of frost, which Sorey’s cart should easily be able to navigate over.

“No snow,” Sorey says, his expression a little sad. “Bummer.”

“Makes it easier for you to drive, though,” Mikleo says. “Hey, it might snow later?”

“I hope it does! Imagine if we get to have a white Christmas on our first year in Ladylake. Wouldn’t that be awesome?” Sorey turns to him with a more hopeful expression, and Mikleo doesn’t hide his own smile.

Both of them remember the years they spent together in Elysia, waking up on Christmas morning to piles of snow, deep enough that they could have buried each other in it. (Sorey even tried to do that, once. Needless to say, neither Mikleo nor either of their mothers were happy about it.)

After opening their presents, they’d always spend the afternoon out in the snow, building snow-villages and having snowball fights which always ended up with both of them returning home, shivering from how doused in the cold they became. Their mothers would scold them, but there was always sure to be a hot bubble bath running upstairs that the two of them would fight to be the first to use, and a steaming mug of hot chocolate for the loser of said fight. Once the first person finished in the bath, they’d switch over, then spend the evening wrapped in warm blankets by the window, watching more snow drift downward, illuminated by the moonlight. Countless times had they fallen asleep like that, with their heads on each other’s shoulders, barely lucid when their mothers picked them up to put them to bed.

Obviously the last part only really happened when they were young kids, but they still managed to fall asleep on each other even as teens. In fact, Mikleo won’t be surprised if tomorrow night, they end up doing the same thing again.

“Yeah,” Mikleo replies.

This time when Sorey offers him a hand, Mikleo takes it, climbing up onto the goblin cart - or goblin _sleigh_ , as Sorey corrects him. The metal handrail is freezing against his fingertips, and he wishes that his costume came with gloves, like Sorey’s.

Sorey begins carting them through the streets of Ladylake, their speed only mildly faster than it would have been if they were walking. Still, Mikleo doesn’t have room to complain - they already got the cart down from the flat, so they might as well make the most of it. Luckily, the streets are devoid of people, so no one has to witness two strange university students on a Christmas-themed cart. It’s bad enough that they’re going to see people they know anyway; if strangers had been here to see this too, Mikleo isn’t sure he’d last very long at all.

Their first stop comes up not too far from their flat, in the form of a tenement building a few streets down. Sorey parks the goblin sleigh outside of the building, and whilst he chains it to a nearby railing (which Mikleo thinks is unnecessary, because who would want to steal a goblin cart, anyway?), Mikleo digs the first presents they need out of the present sack. He hands one to Sorey, and the two head up the stairs to the front door, pressing the buzzer for the flat they need.

A few minutes pass in silence before the door opens, revealing to them the tired face of their friend Lailah, a student a few years older than them. The fact that she’s in red pyjamas patterned with snowflakes makes Mikleo wonder if they’ve just woken her up. She blinks in confusion at the sight of them.

“Sorey? Mikleo? What…?”

“Merry Christmas!” Sorey says cheerfully, with Mikleo mumbling it along with him. They hold out the presents in their hands.

Lailah puts a hand to her chest in surprise. “What? Oh, you didn’t have to get us anything!”

Sorey nudges the present towards her. “We wanted to! There’s one for you as well as one for Edna.”

“Thank you both,” she says, smiling kindly as she takes the gifts from the two of them. “Would you like to come in for a warm drink? I’m sure Edna would love to see you both.”

“Actually, we need to head off,” Sorey says, looking a little saddened about the fact. “Still got lots more presents to deliver!”

Giggling, Lailah says, “Well, who am I to keep Santa Sorey waiting? Oh, and Mikleo, you make a very cute reindeer.”

Mikleo feels his face heat up with embarrassment, but Sorey only puts an arm around his shoulders and says, “He does, doesn’t he?”

“S-Sorey!”

Lailah laughs again, bringing a hand up to cover her mouth. “Don’t be _frosty_ , Mikleo! I’m sure you’re very rein _dear_ to Sorey. He seems to be _fawn_ ed of you in that outfit.”

“Baby reindeer are known as calves,” a new voice says over the chorus of groans that come from the boys. "But nice try."

The three of them turn to see Edna standing just behind Lailah, wearing her own normin-themed pyjamas, her hair tied into pigtails. If they didn’t already know she was in the same year as Lailah, anyone would have thought Edna was ten years younger than she really is.

None of them get the chance to answer before she sees Mikleo and grins devilishly.

“Oh, it’s Reindeerleo. What a pleasant surprise.”

“Don’t give me reindeer-based nicknames, please.”

Sorey interrupts by saying, “Merry Christmas, Edna! We brought presents.”

Lailah passes the present labelled ‘For Edna’ to her flatmate, whose face betrays surprise for only a moment before returning to its usual sceptical expression.

“Thanks, though you totally didn’t have to.”

“We wanted to,” Sorey says cheerfully. “Now, we should probably get going, or else we won’t get all the presents delivered.”

The two girls wave them goodbye before closing the door, leaving Sorey and Mikleo to return to the goblin sleigh, which is (perhaps unfortunately) right where they left it. Unchaining it from the fence, the two head off through the streets once more, moving towards the city centre.

The city centre is alight with Christmas decorations, far more sophisticated than the cheap things they’ve stuck up in their flat. Bright lights fill the square, with a giant Christmas tree as the centrepiece, topped with a traditional star. Though this tree is overall better-decorated than their one, Mikleo still prefers their own, if only because the topper on theirs is a doll of a seraph that they found in an antiques store when they first arrived in Ladylake, and it fits with their overall theme of ‘A Celestial Christmas’. Most of their decorations are to do with the old Shepherd myths, with some of their baubles being the signs of the Five Lords and the Shepherd.

It might look a bit messy when paired with cheap tinsel and fairy lights, but it has more sentimental value, in Mikleo’s opinion.

They pass through the city centre and head towards another residential area. Rather than the nice flats and tenement buildings of the last area, here they find the student accommodation, which looks as cheap as it is to live in. Though many have filled their windows with decorations, it hardly detracts from the peeling paint on the doors or that one cracked window in the flat building which they stop outside of.

When they head up to the door this time, Mikleo keeps half a eye out on the goblin sleigh - not out of worry for the sleigh itself, but for the presents they’ve left in the sack there. They’re not expensive gifts, or ones which people are likely to want to steal, but leaving them behind makes him feel anxious regardless.

Before he can suggest that he stays with the cart, however, the door clicks open, and Sorey pushes it, letting the lukewarm air from inside the building come out to meet them.

“You coming?” he says.

With one last look at the cart, Mikleo shakes off his fears. No one is here to steal their gifts. It’ll be fine. “Yeah, I’m coming.”

Taking the creaky old lift up to the seventh floor, they head along to the last flat in the corridor, one which bears a single piece of tinsel in the shape of a circle on it in place of a wreath. Sorey knocks on the door, and though they don’t mind waiting this time, since it’s warm inside the building, it only takes a moment for a fully-dressed Rose to answer the door, her grin as bright as her red hair.

“Merry Christmas you guys!” she says to greet them. Her eyes flick over their outfits, taking on a more confused expression. “What are you wearing?”

“I’m Santa Sorey, and he’s Reindeerleo,” Sorey says, much to Mikleo’s chagrin. “We bring gifts!”

“Ooh, presents! Should I wake Dezel up?”

Mikleo shakes his head, then regrets it when the bells on his antlers jingle with the movement. “Er, no, don’t worry about that. Just put them under your tree and you can both open them tomorrow.”

“Oh, we don’t have a tree,” Rose says. “Well, we kind of do, but it’s made out of beer cans. And it’s more of a pyramid. But I can put them near it!”

“Just how many beer cans do you need to make a Christmas tree?” Mikleo asks under his breath, but he doesn’t get an answer.

Instead, Sorey shrugs and hands over the present in his hands, which gets Mikleo to follow suit. “Sure, that works! We should probably go, though, since we’ve still got some to deliver.”

Rose tucks the presents under her arm before producing her phone from her pocket. “Can I get a photo first?”

As little as Mikleo wants this moment to be immortalised on Rose’s phone, Sorey agrees, and with Sorey’s arm back around his shoulders, there’s no chance of escape. All he can do is smile forcedly as Rose snaps a picture of the two of them before taking a quick selfie with them.

“It was great seeing you guys,” she says once she’s done. “Have a great one!”

“You too! See you later!”

They head back down in the elevator. Mikleo lets out a sigh of relief once they reach the front door of the building. Honestly, he knew Rose would be one of the more annoying people to encounter whilst wearing something like this, but that didn’t actually go as badly as he’d expected it to. Then again, he doesn’t want to think about what Rose might do with those pictures.

The cold air shocks their skin as they step back into it, but that’s nothing compared to the dread which fills them when they turn to see that their goblin cart has disappeared.

“No,” Sorey whispers, moving over to pick up the broken chain from the ground. “Did someone steal it?”

Mikleo feels a lump in his throat. That goblin cart, as strange as it is to have in the flat, was a present hand-made by Sorey’s grandfather, Gramps, for his birthday a few months ago. He’d treasured it ever since, and to see that someone had actually had the gall to steal it, even though they’d secured it and everything…

Even if he doesn’t think the goblin cart is valuable to himself, for Sorey it meant the world.

“Sorey…” He walks over to comfort his friend, and halts in his steps when he sees the sack of presents lying on the ground. Changing direction, he picks up the sack and frowns when he sees that all of the presents they had left are still intact within the bag. “They only stole the cart?”

“That is strange,” Sorey says. He moves to Mikleo’s side, examining the bag with him. “You’d think they’d want the presents too, but it doesn’t look like they even checked what the presents were before discarding them.”

“I wonder why someone would do that.” Mikleo’s frown deepens, and he looks around the area for any more clues. “If only there were tracks or something we could follow…”

A warm hand on his shoulder distracts him from his thoughts, and he looks over to see Sorey smiling gently at him.

“Let’s forget about the cart for now,” he says, his tone only a little disappointed. “We still have the presents, right? We’ll take care of them first, then we can get the cart back.”

Mikleo stares at his friend. “Whoever stole the cart could be miles away at that point, though.”

Sorey shrugs. “We’ll find it eventually. Come on, let’s go.”

Taking the sack of presents from Mikleo, Sorey hauls it over his shoulder and begins to walk in the direction of their next destination, leaving Mikleo baffled behind him. He knew Sorey was emotionally strong - has seen it countless times, when he’s done badly on tests or been rejected for things he’s wanted to do badly. But for him to give up something so dear to him so he can give presents to his friends without delay…

For the thousandth time, Mikleo feels a warmth and affection for Sorey which cannot be denied.

In this moment, though, all he can do is shove it to the side as he jogs to catch up with his friend, walking alongside him in the cold, towards the next place.

 

* * *

 

“Do we really have to-”

“Come on, Mikleo, we can’t just leave him out.”

“But it’s Zaveid, I’m sure he wouldn’t even care. We can just give him it on Boxing Day.”

“But he won’t get to open it on Christmas Day like everyone else! Come on, Mikleo!”

When Sorey grabs Mikleo’s hand again, he doesn’t have any choice but to follow.

The two head up to their next destination, a house covered in the most garish of decorations. Lights cover every inch of the building, and a suspicious-looking blow-up Santa doll greets them outside the door.

Mikleo looks over to Sorey, ready to protest again, but his friend knocks on the door before he can say anything.

“It’ll be fine,” Sorey says, glancing over to him with a smile. “It’s just Zaveid.”

In theory, Mikleo knows Sorey is right. Zaveid isn’t exactly someone to be feared. The only reason he’s apprehensive is because Zaveid’s teasing can be even worse than Edna’s, depending on the subject matter. Mikleo, unfortunately, finds himself as that subject matter more often than not.

Rolling his eyes, he catches sight of something at the top edge of his vision. He looks up above himself and Sorey at the roof of the porch above them, and he freezes.

Dangling sweetly above their heads is a sprig of mistletoe.

Part of Mikleo instantly wants to slam his head against a wall. He should have known that Zaveid would pull a stunt like this, if only because it might be his only chance of actually getting a girl to kiss him without being too drunk to think any better of it. Not that he imagines it’s very effective anyway, but regardless.

He hears Sorey take in a sharp breath, and looks over to see that he too has spotted the plant. Sorey’s eyes flick over to him, and they only hold each other’s gaze for a moment before they both avert their eyes, cheeks stained with a pink that doesn’t come from the cold.

To be honest, Mikleo doesn’t even know why he’s getting so flustered about this. Mistletoe is a stupid tradition, and it’s not like anyone is going to come out and shame them for not partaking in it.

Then again, they’ve already knocked on Zaveid’s door, and if anyone’s going to egg them on for something like this…

Maybe they should just do it. A peck on the cheek would probably be enough, and at least even something as small as that might finally end the dancing they’ve been doing around each other for months now. Mikleo has noticed the way that Sorey sometimes looks at him, with an expression with which one might regard their favourite book. He also can’t deny that he has flirted subtly with Sorey, and Sorey hasn’t only acknowledged it but responded in kind. Maybe this will be their chance to take things a step further.

Besides if they get it done quickly, then there’s no way Zaveid will catch them in the act.

Making up his mind, Mikleo turns to Sorey, ready to lean up to kiss his cheek-

Only at the same time, Sorey turns to face him, to do what Mikleo isn’t sure and perhaps he’ll never know-

They both stop with their noses pressed against each other, their breaths intermingling. Neither of them can look away this time, caught in the gaze of the other, green and violet meeting in such close terms. Mikleo can hear the bells on his antlers twinkling softly, can feel the warmth of Sorey’s hand, which has come to grasp his own, though he doesn’t know when that happened.

Mikleo lets his eyes begin to drift shut, shuffling closer to Sorey, whose breathing stops for a moment before he does the same. Tentatively, they lean in, craving the warmth they are sure to find in the other’s-

The door slams open.

“Merry Christmas!” yells a very drunken voice.

Springing apart, Mikleo and Sorey try to look anywhere other than at each other, or at the person who has just answered the door to them. A strange lump - is it shame? Guilt? Regret? - forms in Mikleo’s throat, and he puts a hand over his mouth, trying to hide his blush.

“M-merry Christmas, Zaveid,” Sorey says, his voice wavering a little as he holds out Zaveid’s gift to him. When Mikleo chances a glance at him, he sees that Sorey is also doing his best to avoid eye contact.

Zaveid, on the other hand, seems to have no idea what he’s just interrupted - though perhaps that’s just the alcohol. Mikleo sincerely hopes it’s the alcohol which has prompted him to wear nothing but a pair of red boxers and a Santa hat, with his chest and legs bare to the winter chill.

“A gift? For me? Oh, you’re too good to me, Sheps,” Zaveid slurs, taking the gift with a lopsided grin. “You too, Mickey-boy.”

“Well, we’d best be going!” Sorey says in a falsely cheery voice. “Have a good night, Zaveid.”

“Wait, you can’t just abandon me on my porch!” Zaveid says. “It’s Christmas.”

“Sorry, places to go, things to do. Bye!”

Sorey and Mikleo rush away from Zaveid’s house, ignoring the drunken yelling which follows them, though luckily their friend does not leave his porch in pursuit.

Once they get far enough away from Zaveid’s house that they know he won’t follow, they stop, breathing heavily. It is only then that they meet each other’s eyes again. The contact lasts only a moment before they both look away, still embarrassed.

“L-let’s get going,” Mikleo says, picking up the almost-empty gift bag from where Sorey dropped it when they stopped. “Only Alisha left now, right?”

Sorey nods with a constricted sound of approval, and the two of them head off once more, the silence between them more awkward than ever.

 

* * *

 

When they reach Alisha’s house - or rather, her front gate - Mikleo and Sorey share a look of unease.

Behind the giant gates lie two lines of trees, flanking a path which leads towards a house which looks big from this distance, which means it must be massive up close. The house and its garden are decorated with perhaps the most sophisticated decorations they’ve seen yet, with warm white fairy lights tangling around each tree, and other light works creating the impression that this place could be Santa’s house.

Sorey gulps audibly. “S-say, do you think they’ll let us in?”

“At this time of night?” Mikleo says, arching an eyebrow. “I’ll be surprised if Alisha’s guard dog doesn’t chew us up before the gates are fully open.”

“Just because you’re afraid of dogs doesn’t mean they’re all bad,” Sorey chides. “Besides, I’d be more worried about Maltran, if I were you.”

Mikleo grimaces. He’s only met Ms Maltran once, and it was not an event which he likes to remember, considering that it was on the night where Rose managed to persuade Alisha to drink one cocktail too many, resulting in Sorey and Mikleo having to cart their friends back to their homes, being the only sober ones left standing. Ms Maltran, Alisha’s guardian, coldly told them to leave as soon as she took Alisha off their hands, and according to Alisha, she had a major scolding the next morning. After that, she didn’t dare drink so much again.

“Should we just leave the gift here then?” Mikleo says, pulling their final gift-wrapped box from inside the bag. Since it’s small, no one would notice it if they hide it in the shadows of the gate, but that might only mean that Alisha won’t receive it at all.

Sorey shakes his head. “Let’s at least try the buzzer. Maybe a maid will be awake to take it.”

Sighing, Mikleo watches as Sorey presses the buzzer on the pillar holding the gate up, the LED screen reflecting blue onto his face. For a long moment, nothing happens, and the two of them look at each other, wondering if they should just leave.

A click stops them from doing so.

_“Who is it?”_ a crackly voice says through the receiver.

“Ah, hi! This is Sorey and Mikleo. We’re friends of Alisha’s.”

_“And what do you want at this time of the night? Surely you know that Lady Alisha has a strict curfew-”_

“Yes, we’re aware,” Sorey says, accidentally cutting the maid off. “Actually, we’re here to deliver her a Christmas present.”

_“Could you not have done so at a more appropriate hour?”_

At that, even Sorey cannot find a good excuse. It had been his idea to deliver their presents in the hour leading up to midnight, after all.

“We deeply apologise for disturbing you,” Mikleo says. “Would it be at all a bother for us to leave the gift in your hands, though? Since we’ve come all this way.”

The maid sighs deeply. _“I suppose you might as well. Drop it in the delivery hatch.”_

As she says this, a metal panel opens on the wall, revealing a chute into a delivery box. Mikleo pops the box into the chute. It lands in the box with a dull _thud_.

“Thank you,” Sorey says.

_“Good night,”_ says the maid curtly, and the intercom clicks off.

The two boys wait a moment before relaxing, the empty sack falling limp in Mikleo’s hand. Finally, they’re finished.

Sorey turns to Mikleo with a smile. “Looks like we did it.”

Mikleo meets his gaze, his own lips tugging upward. “Somehow.”

Together, they begin the trek back home, taking a slow pace now that they have no obligations left. Mikleo looks up to the sky, frowning when the stars are hidden from view by clouds.

Following his gaze, Sorey says, “This night sure has been weird.”

Mikleo looks over to Sorey. “I agree. Who knew delivering presents so late at night could be so eventful?”

“Yeah! I mean, we had an annoyed maid, a drunken Zaveid, a goblin sleigh thief…”

Humming, Mikleo pulls the sack up into his arms, his fingers threading through it. “About the cart. Couldn’t we find it? We’re done delivering presents, after all.”

He feels Sorey’s eyes on him, and can sense his surprise at the words.

“I thought you didn’t like the goblin cart?” he says. “I honestly thought you’d be glad to see it gone.”

Mikleo shakes his head, the bells on his antlers jingling with him. “Even if I think it’s silly, I know how much it means to you. We should get it back.” After a few steps, he realises that Sorey has stopped. He turns to face him. “Sorey?”

His friend’s expression is unreadable for a moment, his eyes hidden beneath his fringe. He walks over to Mikleo, pausing a foot or so in front of him.

Before Mikleo can even react, Sorey kisses him.

Mikleo melts into the action, though he doesn’t get a chance to reciprocate before Sorey pulls back, his cheeks flushed. His lips tug into a goofy smile, one which makes Mikleo’s heart sing.

“Thank you,” Sorey says, eyes shining.

A rugged breath comes from Mikleo’s lips, and he somehow manages to say, “If I’d known supporting your goblin cart fantasies would get you to do that, I’d have built the damn thing myself.”

Sorey laughs, his voice sweeter than a choir of children singing carols. “Sorry to keep you waiting.”

With an uncontainable smile, Mikleo puts his cold hands on Sorey’s cheeks, grinning when Sorey flinches at the sudden chill. As if to make up for it, he pulls Sorey’s face forward and presses a kiss to his lips, lingering when Sorey reciprocates, the warmth of their breaths intertwining. Gloved hands come to rest snugly on Mikleo’s waist, and the bells above Mikleo’s head twinkle when he tilts his chin, allowing their kiss to deepen.

Neither knows how long they spend kissing, but when they part, it is to the feeling of something cold and wet falling around them.

Gasping, Sorey looks up to the sky, his bright eyes widening. “Snow…!”

Around them, lumps of white drift to the earth, peaceful in their descent. They stick to the ground, managing not to dissolve in the chill. By morning, Mikleo knows the road will be coated in white, the branches of trees dipping with the weight of snow.

“Guess you got your Christmas wish after all,” Mikleo says, absently playing with the hair at the nape of Sorey’s neck. “We’ll have a white Christmas this year, too.”

Sorey turns his attention back to Mikleo, eyes warm with affection. “The snow is nice, but my Christmas wish this year was you.”

Mikleo blushes at his words, burying his face into Sorey’s chest with embarrassment. “You’re so cheesy, Sorey.”

As Sorey leans down to press a kiss to his hair, however, he smiles and whispers, “You’re my Christmas wish too, Sorey.”

 

* * *

 

The next morning, Mikleo awakens caught in a warm embrace. As much as he wants to snuggle further into it, however, his phone buzzes quietly, somehow not waking the softly snoring boy next to him. Pressing a chaste kiss to his forehead, Mikleo slips out of Sorey’s bed, taking his phone through into the living room, where Sorey will not be awoken by his conversation.

“Hello?”

“Good morning,” the receptionist from downstairs says. “Someone left something at the front office for you to collect.”

“Oh? I wasn’t expecting anything.”

“Well, I assumed it was yours considering you left with it last night.”

Mikleo blinks, the cogs in his head turning slowly. “I’ll be down in a moment.”

When he gets downstairs and finds the goblin sleigh, fully intact, he can’t help but smile wryly.

Maybe Sorey’s Christmas wish was for him, or for snow, but he’s sure he’ll like this surprise, too.

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me [@luzrofrulay](http://twitter.com/luzrofrulay) on twitter / [@luzrof-rulay](http://luzrof-rulay.tumblr.com) on tumblr for more Tales Of ramblings | [@randomactuallywrites-57](http://randomactuallywrites-57.tumblr.com) on tumblr for more writing!


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